BOCC sells ambulances, buys police cars

Mark Taylor[email protected]
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners approved the sale of two surplus ambulances on March 29.
One ambulance was sold to Johnson County Community College for $3,000 and the other to Lane County, Kan. for $5,000.
MED-ACT recently purchased six new ambulances to replace older models.
“The ambulance vendor offered the county $3,000 per ambulance as a trade-in value,” said Ted McFarlane, MED-ACT chief. “Believing this was a low offer the county elected to offer the ambulances for sale.”
Lane County plans to use its ambulance as a reserve vehicle and JCCC will use its ambulance to train EMS personnel.
JCCC’s Emergency Medical Science program has about 550 students who study to become paramedics, emergency medical technicians and emergency medical responders.
“In the case of the JCCC (sale) the public benefit to the college outweighs the possible financial gain,” McFarlane said.
In other business, the board approved the purchase of 20 replacement vehicles for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office at a cost of $432,110.
The vehicles will be purchased from Shawnee Mission Ford, Landmark Dodge and Roberts Auto Plaza.
The purchases represent about 10 percent of the department’s 200-vehicle fleet.
The new vehicles include two Ford Explorer 4x4s, three Ford Fusions, one Ford F-150, two Dodge Caravans, four Chevrolet Tahoes with a 4×2 police package and four Chevrolet Tahoes with a 4×4 police package.